Engaging meaningfully with government on socio-economic rights : A focus on the right to housing

To make sure that service delivery is effective and has a positive impact on people’s quality of life, it is important to have meaningful engagement between communities and the government. South Africa’s Constitution makes provision for individuals and communities to take part in service delivery processes and decisions. This right is important in the fight against poverty, inequality and marginalisation. Some people do not know that their right to participate is protected in the Constitution, in South African legislation and in international law. They also do not know the key principles about meaningful engagement set out by the courts, especially the Constitutional Court. This booklet focuses mainly on the right to housing when it explains the objectives, subject and process of meaningful engagement

What is Quality Leadership?

Leaders can get others on board with decision making through either delegation or empowerment. Through delegation, a leader will, through an expression of authority, determine which tasks will be completed by which employees (Billikopf, 2003). Followers are delegated tasks and actions. On the other hand, when followers are empowered, followers have the freedom to complete tasks for the purpose of achieving the goals and vision of the institution (Billikopf, 2003). Empowerment shares the decision making process between the leader and the followers. “Shared decision making can improve the quality and acceptance of decisions, bolster worker motivation and self-esteem, increase sense of ownership and improve interpersonal relations with employees” (Billikopf, 2003, p. 2)

Assessing risk in dynamic situations:lessons from fire service operations

Fire Service personnel face risk on a daily basis, frequently working in extremely hazardous conditions—and the severity of the danger faced can fluctuate rapidly. The Fire Service has therefore become extremely experienced at managing dynamic risks. The aim of this article is to review techniques used in the UK fire service to attenuate the effects of risk and to discuss these with respect to organisations which experience dynamic risk in other fields—even if in less dramatic conditions

Use of social media to enable medical teams to work virtually (and better)

Correspondence to The Lance

Video Games and Higher Education: What Can “Call of Duty” Teach Our Students?

Here it is argued that with game-based learning it is possible, through their inherent teaching mechanisms, to sustain stimulation throughout a class within higher education. That is, the “net generation” (Tapscott, 1999, p. 6) is intrinsically motivated by games and that commercial video games have a potentially important role in the classroom to assist learning of a range of crucial transferable skills. We further argue that commercial off the shelf (COTS) game design is replete with effective constructivist teaching structures and that such games should play a more prominent role within mainstream education

Making rights work: Towards broader role for rights mobilisation in challenging poverty and inequality in South Afric

This paper contemplates a broader conceptualisation/role for socio-economic rights use and mobilisation in South Africa, which not only mitigates the effects of poverty and inequality but also undertakes to address the systemic causes. A brief analysis of poverty and inequality is undertaken which highlights the need for a pro-poor growth path that promotes job creation in South Africa, and the need for public spending to be more effective and efficient. Socio-economic rights are briefly contextualised and a number of critiques of rights discourse and mobilisation are advanced with a view to advocate for a broader conceptualisation of, and usefulness for, a rights-based approach to challenging poverty and inequality. Rights are described as a tactical and political tool, with lawyers having a unique role to play in this regard. Finally, some empirical evidence is discussed around two case studies dealing with litigation in the in the inner city of Johannesburg, and mobilising around informal settlement upgrading in Gauteng

Strategies and Content Areas for Teaching English Language Learners

Language and literacy education for students who are English language learners (ELLs) has become a topic of interest for many educators. However, educators often disagree on the best strategies for teaching ELLs. Six selected strategies and content areas for teaching ELLs are provided to include strategies for teaching specific skills, sample storybooks for building literacy skills, and so on. Assessment with a sample rubric to include language reduced proficiency is also provided

Reducing dependence on big brother: Higher education looks for innovative funding opportunities

This paper presents innovative programs that business schools can utilize to reduce dependence on public funds. A review of the literature shows the theoretical and empirical foundation of higher education funding dilemmas. While higher education is moving towards a global ambition, scarcity hinders governments to fully support programs long-term; thus, cost-sharing and cost-shifting measures must occur for higher education to support current programs. In this study, we examine two universities (one U.S. and one UK.) and provide practical summaries of programs that have provided additional funds. We show that diversity of funding sources is essential for survival of higher education institutions. Market forces require competition to reduce higher education operational costs while providing students and corporate clients an a la carte educational experience

Evacuation responsiveness by government organisations (ERGO):the evacuation preparedness assessment workbook

This Evacuation Preparedness Assessment Workbook (EPAW) is a tool to assess the level of preparedness of Government Organisations (GOs) for the mass evacuation of their public. It has its origins in the results of a three-year, EU-funded research project called Evacuation Preparedness by Government Organisations (ERGO) which sought to research and strengthen the preparedness activities for the evacuation of cities, regions or even countries. This EPAW presents a list of tasks to be carried out at the different phases of evacuation preparedness. It also provides an assessment facility to evaluate how much progress GOs have made against each task, as well as indications of standard and best practices for each task. A brief background to the need for evacuation, the ERGO project and the development of the workbook is given next. After this, the application process of the workbook is explained and illustrated with an example